Margherita
by hikachu
Summary: A meeting between a witch and a boy, both waiting for a miracle. Implied Alois/Claude and BeaBato.


"… Be careful, little boy, or you'll spill your guts all over the tablecloth."

Alois blinked once, twice; reality remained a blurry picture for several moments and then he could feel the pain again, he could see the woman sitting in front of him.

She was elegant and looked disinterested as she took a puff on the long pipe balanced on slender digits.

They were having tea in a forest at night.

Alois was cunning, but he wasn't a genius, especially when it came to etiquette, yet it was obvious to him that this wasn't the right time of the day to hold a tea party. It was too dark, and everything was covered by an ashen veil. All the colors dead.

"Today I'm not in the mood to listen to Ronove's complaints, so you'd better keep your intestines where they belong," she finally turned towards him to add with a small smile: "Unless… you wish to become the main dish for tomorrow's banquet."

"Ah…" his mind was still hazy, his body heavy. "Are you… a demon too…?"

He couldn't tell if this was the same forest he had reached before passing out, or the one where he had met Claude for the first time, praying to the faeries to change his life.

Maybe, this was a place he had never seen before.

The woman stared at him with a stunned expression, and Alois wished he had enough strength to throw something in her direction. Women were so irritating.

"Kyahahahahahaha! A demon? Hmmm. I don't know whether to be glad, because you're one of the few among those foolish humans that are aware of the existence of such beings, or…" her expression darkened, even though her smile did not waver, "to teach you a lesson for confusing a powerful witch such as myself with a demon."

Her attitude was grating on his nerves. "I don't care about this crap. Just let me go. I have something to do."

"Let you go?" the witch puffed her cheeks a little. She looked confused and vaguely childish. "This is my forest—it has been so for several decades now. You are the one who intruded on my territory, and yet I was kind enough to invite you to this wonderful tea party." A sigh. "Then again… another witch once told me that people are granted one last dream when they die, so perhaps…" she eyed the gaping wound on Alois' abdomen thoughtfully. "There isn't much you could do in that state anyway. Except sparing the wolves the effort to go hunting for their dinner. This forest is full of dangerous wolves, you know? You'd better be careful! Kukuku."

"Tch. I don't know what are you talking about and I could care less…!" he tried to stand up, but his body wasn't agreeing with him. "I have to go, I need to…!"

"My, my, what is so important that you'd even accept to crawl on the ground with your stomach spilt open for its sake?" she sounded amused. "If there is something you wish for, I can give it to you. Although I'm no demon, I can be summoned and make contracts with humans just like them…! It's not something witches usually do, you know? But _I_ do, because I am also an alchemist, and in this world there are only two things that can make people mad with desire: love and money…! As a witch, I can grant you the first, and as an alchemist, I can give you so much gold you wouldn't be able to use it all up as long as you lived! Fufufufukyahahhahahahaha! Theeeen, which one do you wish for, booooooy?"

Alois gritted his teeth and kicked the table, angry and frustrated at himself and the haughty woman. "I wish you'd just bite your tongue and die! Shut up! I can't stand annoying women and I can't stand you! My soul…" he took a deep breath. "My soul already belongs to Claude…!"

Alois was arrogant, but he wasn't proud. He didn't want to die, but he could feel that this woman could easily kill him. He would have never been able to talk back to someone like this if it hadn't been for Claude—Claude had given him what he had now, and for Claude he had to be brave, for once, and get away from here.

The witch's mouth formed a small 'o' for a moment before turning into the most vicious grin Alois had ever seen. Small fangs glistened under the moonlight.

"Hoh. It's love, isn't it?"

She didn't get any other reply than white teeth bared like a beast's fangs, and it only amused her further. People were like this after all, they get scared and feral when you realize what they long for—they're afraid that you will either grab or destroy it before they can reach it.

"Any other human would try to find a loophole in the contract—anything to save his own life. I've only seen another fool like you, with that same light in his eyes, and he had also fallen in love with the one who would drag his soul to hell, the idiot," she seemed to nibble thoughtfully on her pipe for a few moments before she spoke again. "What is it that you want from this demon of yours? I, Beatrice, can easily grant you the miracle of love, if you wish for it with all your heart."

Alois laughed. It was derisive, but weak and wheezing. "If I wish for it with all my heart? What are you, my fairy godmother? If I wish for it, I can go back on my own and do whatever I want!" his speech got even rougher than it was, almost like Jim McCain's, "I don't need no help!" except Claude's, he added but didn't say out loud.

Beatrice's smile widened again but perhaps, this time it wasn't malicious. She was staring at the bloodied tablecloth. "Is that so."

"What kind of question's that? Stop fucking with me, alright?" and maybe she truly wasn't doing anything but entertaining herself at his expenses. The thought made Alois' blood boil, and he tried to stand up again, this time successfully.

"So unwavering. Or perhaps, I should say, single-minded? … No matter, no matter. You could become a fine witch if you wanted, you know?"

"Who cares!" he took a few steps, staggering, tree bark cutting into his hands as he looked for support. "I don't need anything—I just have to go back and then," and then, will he look at me like he used to?

"But you see, this is exactly your magic. If you work hard and believe that your wish will certainly come true, a miracle will happen," Beatrice was talking to his small, trembling back right now, but she didn't care.

"I don't even know what the bloody hell you're talking 'bout!" the yell came out as a hiss, but the boy didn't stop walking.

"You would do anything for that person, wouldn't you? Even something irritating, even something detestable, just to get him to glance at you."

"Shut up!"

"But you belong to two entirely different words, isn't that right?" her voice was somehow quieter now, a bit tired, even. If Alois had paid more attention to the witch, maybe, he would have asked himself if she was still talking to him or—

"You must be nothing more than an annoyance to him, something he can't wait to get rid off in order to regain his freedom—"

"S, _Shut up_, I said!"

"—Probably, he will forget everything about you soon…"

"It's not like that, it's not like that, it's not like that!" Alois' throat was burning as he finally turned around; he could taste iron in his mouth, his legs felt like jelly. "He promised! He can't forget, he won't! Because he wants me and only me—he promised!"

"… I see," Beatrice said calmly, oddly composed; the curve of her lips was indecipherable: it could have been either the begin of a frown or of another smile. "Wake up then. Wake up, and help that demon of yours remember, if he ever forgets his promise. Alois Trancy."

And when everything faded like mist and he woke up, there really was a wolf in front of him: Alois thought he would be devoured before he could tell Claude anything—but then Claude was there, and he killed the wolf: effortlessly, elegantly; and after that he listened to Alois' confession – his spell – and then he knelt down as if to kiss him and—

"… There really is no harsher way to break one's heart than forgetting a promise you made to them, isn't there," the witch from the dream he would never remember wondered.


End file.
